Halo: Crimson - Reclamation
by Cybermat47
Summary: As the Covenant remnant grows more powerful, only three SPARTANs and a squad of ODSTs stand between a rogue Forerunner and the Human race.
1. Prologue: Torture

**_Author's note: This series takes place during Spartan Ops Episode 1. Sorry for any confusion._**

* * *

_Unknown location, unknown time, 3/6/2558_

Alice woke up, hanging from the ceiling, and prepared herself for another day of torture.

Ever since the Covenant had bought her to this planet -

_"How long ago was it?"_ After all the torture, she had forgotten the time.

The doors in front of her opened, and in walked Parg Vol, her torturer. Slowly and deliberately, he moved towards a rack full of Covenant torture devices, ranging from simple knives to underpowered energy swords, all designed to cause pain, rather than to kill.

After a minute of perusing the arsenal, Vol chose a pair of what looked like knuckledusters, but had tiny crystalline needles on the end. Alice almost smiled. At least this would be something new. Vol moved towards her. He stabbed the needles into her, and she was winded. She then screamed as the needles detonated.


	2. Plan B

_UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 1045 hours, 3/6/2558_

"Sorry sir, you can't enter the bridge without authorisation." The marine had to have some balls to stand up to a SPARTAN, especially a SPARTAN who had recently had his girlfriend abducted by crazy theological lizard men from outer-space.

However, it was still a bad move.

"Just let me through, dammit!"

When the marine started to give Bryn the silent treatment, he seriously pissed the SPARTAN off. Bryn picked the guard up by the throat. "_Please _let me through." The marine reached for the button, and pressed it. The doors opened. Bryn set the marine down gently. "Thank you." He walked onto the bridge.

The bridge crew looked at him in surprise, but then went back to their jobs. After the Storm fleet had been defeated, their tasks had consisted mostly of station-keeping. Bryn walked over to Captain Lasky. "Sir, I need to talk to you about something." "OK. But not here, report to my office in 15 minutes." "Thank you sir."

_15 minutes later..._

Bryn entered the Captain's office. The Captain was waiting for him. "What is it you wanted to talk about, Lieutenant?" Bryn was straight and to the point. "Sir, requesting permission to retrieve Ali- SPARTAN Greene from the Covenant." Lasky thought for a minute, then gave his response. His face showed that he was pained by the decision. "I'm sorry, but we need you here, on Requiem. And we don't even know if she's still alive." "With all due respect, sir, I'm not going to stand by while one of my team might be in danger." Lasky looked at him. "I'm sorry."

That was all he said. Bryn walked out of the office, to find a bald, tattooed man waiting for him. "Did he give the go-ahead?" "No he fucking did not." Jun thought for a moment. "So what do we do now?" Bryn looked into Jun's eyes. "Plan B."

They went to s-deck, and asked one of the technicians to put them in their armour. "What do you need your armour for?" she asked suspiciously. "We have a war games match, Commander Palmer wants us there by 1200 hours. Preferably sooner." "Okay..." Soon, the SPARTANs were fully suited up. They got their weapons, and headed towards the holo-deck. Just before they reached it, however, they changed direction, and headed for a hangar.

When they arrived, they found the hangar empty, save for five ODSTs and Commander Palmer. "Stop right there, SPARTANs," Palmer ordered. "I know what you're trying to do, and I can't allow it. I know you were in a personal relationship with SPARTAN Greene, lieutenant." Behind her, one of the ODSTs depolarized his visor.

Bryn recognised him.

The ODST slammed the butt of his MA5D into the back of Palmer's neck, and she collapsed to the ground. Bryn smiled. "Nighty-night, bitch." He nodded at the ODST. "Thanks for that, Buck." "Don't mention it. Seriously, I don't want a demotion."

Bryn recognised most of the ODSTs in the squad, with one exception. "Who's the new guy?" The ODST moved forward and introduced himself. He spoke with a German accent. "Private Werner Schmidt. I understand you served with the Gunnery Sargeant in the Great War?" "That's right. It was mostly me saving his or his girlfriend's ass." Buck smiled. "And I thought I'd return the favour. Just don't sleep in your pod this time. Anyway, what's your plan?" Bryn smiled grimly. "It's simple. We're going to steal that D79 over there and hijack a covvie ship. Then we're going to kill quite a lot of covvies."


	3. Capture and Escape

_D79 Pelican E-456, In flight inside Requiem, 1150 hours, 3/6/2558_

"So what exactly are we looking for," asked Mickey as he flew the D79 towards the coordinates Bryn had given him. "An SDV-class corvette. Set down on it's topside landing deck when you see it." Bryn walked back to the troop bay, where Jun and the ODSTs were getting their weapons ready. "Here's the plan: as soon as we set set down on that corvette, we take out the communications room so that they can't call for help, or so we can send an all clear to any other ships they might've alerted. Then we'll move through the hangar. After that, we'll seize the weapons systems and bridge."

"Any questions?" Nobody spoke or raised their hand. "Ok then, let's kick some ass." "We're goin' in," yelled Mickey, just as the dropship was buffeted by AA fire. Unfortuntely for the Covenant, Mickey was an expert pilot. He dodged every shot, right up until the D79 was about to land. A plasma round hit it's port engine, and it nosedived towards the landing pad. "Jump," yelled Bryn, throwing himself out of the D79. The others followed suit. Bryn unshouldered his BR85HB SR, and jumped into the comm room through it's atmospheric shield. He fired at the stunned Unggoy manning their stations, and they fell.

The rest of the squad followed. Bryn looked at the Covenant communication equipment. "Who here's a tech expert?" Werner moved forwards. "I am." "Try to find out if the Covenant squawked, and if they did, send an all-clear out." "Yes Lieutenant. This might take a while, though, you might as well carry on." "Ok." Bryn turned to the rest of the squad. "We'll move on to the hangar. It's this way" he said, pointing at a door on the far side of the room. "I'll take point," offered Buck. "Alright. Let's go!" The door opened to reveal a Sangheili Warrior. Buck quickly drew his combat knife, and rammed it down the Warrior's throat, yelling "Eat this!"

The Elite went down, purple blood spraying out of it's throat as it screamed in agony.

Behind it's body, five of it's comrades opened fire. The squad quickly got behind cover, except for Buck, who was hit in the shoulder. "Cover me!" yelled Dutch, as he run out of cover to retrieve Buck. "C'mon Gunny, you gonna let these assholes end you!?" He dragged Buck behind cover, firing at the Elites with his M6H/SOCOM. Just as he got Buck behind cover, a plasma grenade stuck itself to his helmet. He quickly ripped off the helmet, and threw it back at the Sangheili. It detonated, wiping out all the aliens in one massive blue explosion.

Bryn smiled. "Good job, Dutch. Let's move on to the hangar." When they entered the hangar, all they found was Grunts. About one hundred of them. Fortunately, they were unarmed. The ODSTs fired at the Grunts, but Bryn and Jun, wanting to conserve ammunition, went close quarters, stabbing at the short aliens with their combat knives. When they were finished, the hangar was filled with dead or dying Grunts, and stained with their bright blue blood. Buck shouldered his MA5D. 'What now?" Bryn panted. "Right... now... I need... a... little... rest!" Jun chimed in. "Me... too!"

When the SPARTANs had recovered from their slaughtering, they led the way to the weapons room, only to find it empty. "Ok, let's move on to the bridge." They quickly got to the bridge. Bryn opened the door. The bridge was crewed by ten Sangheili Commanders, two Warriors and one Zealot. The ODSTs and SPARTANs opened fire on them. Taken by surprise, and with their shields down, most of them were killed immediately. The Zealot, however, activated it's active camoflage, and sneaked away.

Bryn ducked behind cover as a Sangheili Warrior fired it's concussion rifle at him. The SPARTAN quickly activated his active camoflage and snuck up behind the Warrior, and he stabbed it's neck with his combat knife. As the Elite fell to the ground, Bryn looked around. The bridge had been cleared. "Good job guys. Looks like we've got ourselves a ride."

_Unknown location._

Parg Vol walked into the torture chamber once again. And again he walked over to the rack of torture tools. This time, he picked up a thin metal rod, large enough to penetrate human skin and cause pain, but too small to cause considerable damage. Vol walked over to Alice, but just as he was about to stick the rod into her, she headbutted his stomach. Winded, he collapsed, and the rod went flying. Alice caught the rod, and used it to destroy the lock. She fell to the ground, but gathered herself up and ran out the door.


	4. Hunting trip part 1

**_I'm back, baby!_**

* * *

_Unknown location, 2356 hours, 3/6/2558_

Alice paused a moment to catch her breath. She'd managed to escape with her armour, but a group of Sangheili were following her through the forest she'drun into. They had big, bear-like creatures on leashes as well, sniffing her out. _"This just isn't my bloody day, is it?" _she thought. She checked that the carbine she'd stolen was loaded. She had one full clip. Then she started walking back. _"It's time to hunt the hunters," _she thought with an evil grin.

She found the Sangheili hit squad a few kilometres behind her. Alice positioned herself on a grassy ridge,nand waited for the hunting party to get closer. When they did, she noted their ranks. Three storm Sangheili and a Commander. She thought about who to kill first. _"Those bear things," _she decided. _"If I can't kill them all, at least hiding from them will be easier." _She put her eye to the carbine's scope, which doubled as a magazine, aimed at one of the bear things, held her breath, and fired. The radio-active cartridge flew approximately 50-metres through the air, and embedded itself in the creatures skull, causing brain hemorrhage, death, and a minor headache. She quickly killed the others, then slinked away into the night.


	5. Hunting trip part 2

_Unknown location, 0017 hours, 4/6/2558_

After getting away from the Sangheili, Alice checked how much ammo she had left. _"Five rounds? Shit, that won't be enough to bring down any of those squid faced monsters."_ She checked that she still had her knife. She also found five incendiary grenades on her belt. _"We were going to use these to destroy Anderson's complex"_ Alice remembered how the raid on the CRF base had gone terribly wrong. She didn't even know if Bryn or Jun had survived _"Well I'm not going to find out standing here looking at this grenades like an idiot, am I?! Wait, the grenades..."_ An idea started to form in her head.

Gar Beramee, the leader of the hunting party, observed the four fires that had sprung up on the horizon. He turned to the Storm Sangheili accompanying him. "The human may be at any one of those sites. We'll seperate to check the sites, and radio in as soon as you find it. Don't bother about getting it alive, that butcher's had his fun with it."

Alice grinned as the Sangheili Commander approached the first fire. She unsheathed her knife, ran silently up to him, and stuck the knife into his neck. He fell to the ground, purple blood spraying out of his mouth.

Things went almost identically at the other two fires: Alice would stick her knife into the Sangheili, and the Sangheili would find the answer to the biggest philosophical debate known.

But at the fourth site, the Sangheili was waiting for her. As soon as it saw her, it fired it's storm rifle at her, but she quickly ducked and rolled away from the plasma. It searched for her,abut she quickly ran at it with her knife, but she recieved an elbow in the face. In the second it took for her to recover, the alien knocked her to the ground and straddled her, but as it prepared to stab it's energy gauntlet into her, she tore the pin off the grenade smashed it into the Elite's face. It roared in agony, and fled away.

Alice thought for a moment. _"What the hell am I going to do now?"_


	6. Complication

_Captured Covenant Corvette in slipspace, 0018 hours, 4/6/2558_

Bryn returned to from checking for any Covenant survivors in the ship's many corridors. "Werner, have you found any helpful co-ordinates in the nav computer?" The ODST turned to him. "The only planet I've found that isn't in the UNSC charts is some place called 'Site of Glorious Rebirth'." Bryn nodded. "That sounds important. Plot in a course there. If Alice isn't their, we can at least report the location to the UNSC, and they'll be able to check out what it is, and reduce it to rubble if they need to." Werner nodded. "Yes lieutenant. Also, Dutch wants to see you about the Sargeant. He's in the med bay."

When Bryn got to the med bay, he found Dutch kneeling over Buck. Bryn rushed over. "What the hell happened?" Dutch looked up at the SPARTAN. "Turns out that the shoulder wound was worse than we thought. The bodysuit didn't give enough protection, and his skin's severely burnt. And we don't have anything to treat it with, all the meds on this ship were designed for Covenant. I have no idea how it would react with Buck's body." Bryn sighed. "Well, just keep him stable." Bryn put his helmet back on, and contacted Werner. "Werner, take us to that planet."


End file.
